Umami Rich Veggie Stock Paste

I can’t believe I am only posting the recipe on my website now! I have been making (and selling) my little jars of homemade stock paste for years!

I am so excited you can even download the recipe card to your devices – here – Veggie Stock Paste PDF

This jar of goodness  is such a workhorse in my kitchen as it adds flavour to most of my dishes. I use a teaspoon or two for making a delicious stock in seconds or I add it in place of salt to season my food. Think quick soups, sauces and risottos!

In terms of salt, the better the salt the better the paste, I promise there is really no place in your kitchen for table salt, I use fine pink Himalayan – you can read further on salt here

I would recommend using fresh organic vegetables and herbs here as it will make all the difference in taste. We are also going to add UMAMI rich ingredients including miso and mushrooms ensuring that this is a jar you definitely want hanging around in your fridge or freezer.

Finally you can say goodbye to watery veg stocks and lots of artificial ingredients in shop bought stock pastes, cubes or liquids.

If you are pressed for time you can whizz your veggies and herbs in food processor to save time or you can work on your knife skills and cut the veggie by hand.

This will make enough for one large jar but I would recommend putting it into smaller jars which you can freeze.

The stock will happily sit in your fridge for a month or two and in the freezer for up to 4 months.

The jars defrosts really quickly so you will never be without stock again!

I normally add a teaspoon for 250ml but you can add as much teaspoons as you want to adjust the stock to your liking. Things like risottos and soup would need a weaker tasting stock but things like sauces would need something with a bit more punch.

Stir a spoon through a bolognese or sauce for extra flavour.

Sterilised Jars (see note below for a quick method)

One large casserole pot with a lid and a hand blender.

A food processor if you want to whizz veggies & herbs together before cooking and also after cooking (instead of a hand blender).

Veggies

• 200g celery, finely chopped (you can also add the leaves) (see note)
• 150g carrots, peeled, topped & tailed, finely chopped
• 150g onions, peeled, finely chopped
• 50g fresh tomatoes, chopped
• 300g courgettes, topped & tailed, finely chopped
• 100g fresh chestnut (brown) mushrooms, chopped
• 5 dried sun-dried tomatoes (opt)
• 40g tomato puree
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
• 1/4 cup dried mushrooms (I use shiitake) (opt)
• 60g good salt
• 6 tablespoons good olive oil

Herbs & Umami

• 2 bay leaves
• few sprigs fresh sage leaves, chopped
• few sprigs fresh rosemary leaves, chopped
• few sprigs fresh thyme leaves, chopped
• few sprigs fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 15g parsley, leaves and stems (or use frozen stems), chopped
• 50g (two generous tablespoons) brown miso paste

1. Heat the oil in a large pot on a high heat, add all your ingredients including the chopped veggies, herbs, tomato paste, miso, dried mushrooms and salt and stir. We want to hear a sizzle when the veggies are added.
2. Cover and turn down the heat to medium. Cook for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the veggies are super soft and completely falling apart.
3. PS: we don’t want the mixture to be dry or sticking to the bottom, when lifting the lid to stir the veggies, let the water created by the steam drip down onto the veggies and add a little oil.
4. Once the veggies are super soft and cooled a little, whizz well with a hand blender until the mixture forms a ‘scoopable’ paste, this will take a few minutes. If the mixture is not blending properly, you could add a few tablespoons of water.
5. When using a food processor you might need to blend this in batches.
6. Add the mixture to the sterilised containers and store one in the fridge and the rest in the freezer.

Stringy Celery:

The older the celery the more stringy it can get, these fibres can be really hard to cook down so I would recommend using a potato peeler to peel the first layer of your celery to prevent this.

Sterilising Jars:

I prefer to wash the jars & lids with hot soapy water by hand, thoroughly rinse them, then place them in a low-temp oven 120°c for 20 minutes. I switch the oven off and leave them in the oven till I am ready to fill them.

Always use clean utensils while filling (and eating) the contents and don’t touch the inside of the jars or lids with your hands.